v2 essential Touring Pack Review |
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Here at www.inter-bike.co.uk we are regular tourers and even after of years of packing for motorcycle tours, you always forget something. The guys and gals at www.v2mal.co.uk have decided to address this problem by introducing an essential Touring Pack which is intended to have in it most of those small but essential touring items you forget. The v2 essential Touring Pack itself is a small zipper bag with a 2 litre capacity that measures only 200 x 100 x 100mm, it was small enough for us to fit in our small tank bag on a recent to tour to the Ardennes.  It’s waterproof too, being constructed of a waterproof neoprene and synthetic fibre, backed with a polychloroprene elastomeric membrane. It has a dual zipper opening with a pull tab which we found made opening with gloves easier. However, unfortunately with regular use and repacking of the very tightly fitted contents the stitching to the zipper has started to stretch in a couple of places. So what do you put in an essential Touring Pack? You will be surprised as to what they have managed to cram into such a small bag. Here is the complete list:- Earplugs V2 Sponge Microfibre Cloth Tyre Pressure gauge SiS Go Bar SiS Go Electro sachet SiS Smart one gel Sidestand Puk Micro led lights Cable ties (pack of 50) Essential Wipes (10 pack) Fogtech Sachet Sdoc chain spray V2 Lid fresh Raincoat 5 Pack Hi Viz vest The total retail cost of all these items separately is apparently £50.00, but the total cost of the v2 essential Touring Pack is only £39.99, which makes it particularly good value. Now we can’t claim to have used every one of the products in the pack on our recent tour, but knowing you have them all with you is reassuring.  We found the v2 Lid Fresh particularly useful, long hot days touring can leave your helmet smelling like a “skunk’s backside” and it was nice to be able to spray the inside of your helmet at the end of a days touring, knowing it would have a more pleasant lemon aroma the next day. We even extended to using it on the inside of our gloves. It contains real silver and works by killing the odour producing microbes. The digital tyre pressure gauge proved useful in that once we arrived at our hotel and disposed of hard luggage, we wanted to let out the additional air we had put in our tyres to cope with the extra weight and set them to their normal running pressures and likewise on the return trip put in the correct additional air. Forecourt air pump gauges being generally inaccurate. Thank fully we had no breakdowns on the tour so didn’t need to use the supplied yellow fluorescent Hi Viz vest which is increasingly becoming a requirement in many European Countries. We also didn’t need to use the supplied side-stand puk as we’d brought one, but were able to lend it to a fellow tourer who had forgotten his. Also as our bike was shaft drive we didn’t need the travel can of SDoc 100 White Chain Spray, however having used many other SDoc 100 products, they are normally very high quality.  We did try out the Rain Coat which is described as an advanced water repellent coating. You are supposed to wipe a thin layer of it on your visor with the supplied applicator pad, allow the waxy substance to dry and then buff until transparent with the supplied buffing cloth. However I can’t say we noticed any particular increase in the ability of the rain we encountered to run off the visor. We can only conclude we must have applied the Rain Coat incorrectly. The v2 essential cleansing wipes proved useful however, when our bike developed a small electrical fault on the tour and we had to pull dirt bodywork off the bike to access the wiring. The wipes enabled us to clean our hands at the road side. However this highlighted an omission from the pack, we would have liked to have seen small rolls of both electrical tape and gaffer tape included; essential for roadside running repairs when touring. However we were pleased to note a large pack of cable ties is included in the pack. Included also is a fairly large v2 machine washable microfiber cloth, measuring some 40cm by 40cm, primarily designed to aid with visor cleaning. However we found it particularly useful for cleaning the large touring screen fitted to our bike, which picked up the inevitable high death toll of insects on it each day. Talking of visor cleaning the v2 essential Pack includes the rather unusual V2 sponge visor cleaning pack which regretfully as we had other visor cleaning products with us on tour we didn’t use. However this is a particularly different approach to the normal sprays and cleaning cloths and as such we intend to bring you a review of this item separately in the near future.  The v2 essential Pack also includes two small led lights, one red and one the normal white light, obviously included to assist with a night time breakdown, as they can be set to flash rapidly. We found a more mundane but equally vital use for them, when bunking with a mate in a hotel room, you can use them in the night to creep off to the shared toilet without switching on half the hotel lights and waking everyone. But of course we did no beer drinking on this holiday so they were rarely used! Mentioning drink, the pack included an energy bar and energy gel drink, these were consumed mid tour, one afternoon when we couldn’t find a french café open anywhere in the french countryside and when we were weak with hunger and fatigue, being some two hours since we’d had a large french lunch. Joking apart, a useful inclusion should you find yourself broken down miles from anywhere and you need an emergency drink and energy boost until the recovery truck eventually finds you. Lastly two sets of spare ear plugs are included; you inevitably lose several sets during a tour so their inclusion in the pack is essential. Essential is what this pack is all about the guys and gals at v2Mal have worked hard to include a wide variety of essential touring aids and we think largely the pack fits the bill. Now everyone will add and subtract from the pack with use, but it represents a really good value, space saving solution to having most of the touring essentials you need in one bag.  The v2 essential Touring Pack can be purchased online from the v2Mal at http://www.v2mal.co.uk, priced at only £39.99. The pack also includes a discount voucher enabling you to replenish the pack at 10% discount on each original product included. In addition they also offer a Weekend Pack and a Track Pack containing essentials for that weekend away on the bike or a track day. Review by Jon Booth - www.inter-bike.co.uk
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